The staff at the LHG is made up of those society has rejected: the homeless, 40 year old virgins, single mothers on welfare, street corner prostitutes, retired superstar athletes, and assistant professors. In our offices, we spend a good chunk of time arguing over who has it worse. All sorts of positions have been taken. The most controversial (and perhaps bitter) argues that while the homeless have their freedom and virgins their chastity, while single mothers have their children, prostitutes their pretty woman, and retired superstar athletes their money, assistant professors have none of the above. And just when they think things might be okay, an arbitrary exercise of power reminds them that their fate is not in their hands.Here at the LHG we rise and fall together. If some of us go, we...
my money is on the brunetteCelebrity authors, we meant (not heavyweights like Stephen King or JK Rowling, celebrity authors in the nerd world, not the real world). One one side atheist crusador Sam Harris, on the other ex nun Karen Armstrong. Who's right about the future of Islam? Read them here and here, and then flip a coin to decide who's right....
whateverAt some point in the past decade, spanking and washing your kid's mouth with soap vanished from the annals of proper child rearing. What is a parent supposed to do? Fortunately for them, Jesus Camp picks up the slack. Don't despair: with or without a mouth full of Dove, your kid will praise the Lord....
i've come to suck your blood...Unless you've got your head in the sand you by now know that the pope has pissed of the Muslim world by - perhaps - criticizing Islam and its prophet. More specifically, Benedict delivered a speech where he quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor as saying, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”Doesn't sound good. But are Muslims and the press taking the statement out of context? After all, everyone agrees that Benedict's comments on Islam were but a small part of his address. Now you can see for yourself. At Informed Comment you can find the complete text of Benedict's address and the best ...
notA big chunk of our readership comes from academia. See above: University of Texas, Yale, University of Pennyslvania, University of Miami - who are these people? Students looking for paper ideas? Faculty looking for lecture tips? Administrators procrastinating? Whoever you are and whatever your intentions might be, the LHG thanks you for stopping by....
face it: godot's not comingSamuel Beckett is one of those writers that you're supposed to like if you fancy yourself at least a tiny bit intellectual. It is thus with some shame that the LHG confesses to having sat through Waiting for Godot on two ocassions (the first time on a high school literary magazine field trip, the second time on an attempt to offer an original date to a very unlucky girl) and both times having been bored senseless. In Paris, when the play was first performed spectators rioted - it's beyond us why they even bothered. But we do like how Beckett describes his take on language:"More and more my own language appears to me like a veil that must be torn apart in order to get at the things (or the Nothingness) behind it. Grammar and Style....
One of our staff members who dabbles in philosophy is often seen bicycling around the neighborhood on a pink bike and his hair tied back into puffy pig tails. Mind you, he's straight. So what gives? In a diary entry Susan Sontag describes the French philosopher Jean Wahl who wrote a book on existentialism that was required reading at a LHG retreat two months back:"Yesterday I went to my first Paris cocktail party, at Jean Wahl's...Wahl very much lived up to my expectations - a tiny slim birdlike old man with lank white hair and a thin mouth, terribly distracted and unkempt. Baggy black suit with three large holes in the rear end through which you could see his (white) underwear, and he'd just come from a late afternoon lecture - on Claudel - at the Sorbonne."Can it be that
We once posted a plee directed toward Reza Aslan's agent. Needless to say, he has yet to call. Meanwhile, Reza keeps playing the public intellectual game. Click here for his piece on "The War for Islam" published in yesterday's Boston Globe. It's worthwhile reading.PS. If the Boston Globe forces you to register, fear not. Just typing lazurdadeldiego@gmail.com for username and password for password will do the trick.The LHG, as always, at your service....
Above a video that reviews the events. A word of warning: the footage is graphic and the music sappy (we think it's better seen on mute). Below, two articles in Sundays New York Times give the LHG a sense of hope five years after 9-1. The first reports that:In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent United States residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the previous two decades. More than 40,000 of them were admitted last year, the highest annual number since the terrorist attacks, according to data on 22 countries provided by the Department of Homeland Security.Many have made the journey unbowed by tales of immigrant hardship, and despite their own opposition to American policy in the Middle East. They come seeking the same promise that has drawn foreigne...
the nay sayersReaders of the LHG will know that we're interested in globalization as a political and economic process. And when it comes to globalization, few topics are more controversial than the WTO. When the WTO is discussed, passion flame. Is it good? Is it bad? Some say it's an engine for free trade and development in the Third world, others claim that the WTO's version of free trade is not fair trade, that in fact it's just a pawn for the interests of rich countries. Indeed, wherever the WTO summit meets, protests follow. It's practically impossible to get an objective and impartial take on the organization.Until now. After months of research, the LHG has found a remarkable website that will tell you everything you need to know. Plumb its depths, read, explore, learn. The facts are ...
not one of the 70 virgins: his niece is cute (Previously on the LHG: The ReligiousRoots of Violence: Islam I, II, and III)Osama Bin Laden:This is also where Bin Laden comes in: Osama's dad had a flair for palace building and over the years royal favor turned his family business into the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia and one of the largest in the Middle East. The Bin Laden children were raised and educated with Saudi princes and had contact with leaders of Islamic movements all over the Muslim world. Soon after the Soviet invasion of Afganistan Bin Laden started to raise money for the resistance. By 1984 he had established a gu...
On August 24th the New York Times reported that "Evolutionary biology has vanished from the list of acceptable fields of study for recipients of a federal education grant for low-income college students."A spokesperson for the Department of education claimed that the omission was a mistake. Nonetheless, "Scientists who knew about the omission also said they found the clerical explanation unconvincing, given the furor over challenges by the religious right to the teaching of evolution in public schools. It's just awfully coincidental, said Steven W. Rissing, an evolutionary biologist at Ohio State University."Fishy indeed. As far as the LHG can tell, evolutionary biology is still off the list. Doesn't the Department of Education have bigger issues to deal with? Lets take just one example: ...
better than santa claus(Previously on the LHG: The ReligiousRoots of Violence: Islam I and II)Saudi Arabia: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1791) and the Wahhabi movement.Al-Wahhab regarded the condition of Arabia of his time - land of Muhammad - as corrupt and idolatrous. He and his followers set out to purge Islam of what they considered impure going as far as to destroy the tomb of Muhammad and his Companions in Mecca and Medina.Wahhab combined religious zeal and military might when he allied with Muhammad ibn Saud, a local tribe chief, to form a religious and political movement. Eventually Saudia Arabia was created: the kingdom merged the politic...
and you know who you are, more proof from ebay: Jesus on a rock, Jesus on a tomato, and Jesus in a group of trees.LHG considers Jesus on a tomato a particularly good buy. Hurry, the first two auctions are ending soon....
lord, is that really you?LHG is always looking for ways to make a quick buck. Now God is for Suckers reports on Jesus' sightings. Seems that if you find an image of the guy someplace weird you can make a killing on ebay (check out Jesus on a log).Our interns our scavenging the dumpsters outside the office as these very words are being typed....
here's looking at you, kid(Previously on the LHG)To uncover the roots of today's mess in the Middle East, you need to look at the interplay between Iran, Saudia Arabia and Afganistan that began with the Iranian Revolution.Iran:In the 50's and 60's many Muslim states were governed by modernizing rulers who tried to suppress Islam and follow what they understood to be the US's and Europe's secular example. They thought that if they could just imitate the "West" their nations would prosper. They were wrong. Economic progress did not follow the closing of mosques and religious schools, the banning of the headscarf and imitation of Western dress. Opposition grew, and no opposition...
Make love, not warLHG learnt from Progressive Islam that in response to Iranian President Ahmadinejad's anti-semitic cartoon contest - a group of Jews is sponsoring their own. They state: “We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”We like the idea. You can see the entries here....
racquetball anyone?Unlike Tariq, most of our staff members are marriage phobic. So we're both glad and sad to report that there's one more reason not to get married, Bernard T. Pagano has passed away. Who is Pagano you ask? Only the priest this staff member would have wanted leading the ceremony. The Los Angeles Times reports:The Rev. Bernard T. Pagano, a maverick Roman Catholic priest who was accused and then cleared in a string of armed robberies by the "Gentleman Bandit," has died. He was 81. A woman who claimed to have been Pagano's lover gave police photographs of him because he closely resembled the composite drawings of the robber.During Pagano's 1979 trial in Delaware, several witnesses said the lanky priest, then 53, was responsible for the robberies. Pagano drew attention for his...
Tariq Ramadan makes many a woman swoon. We quote from comments:"Tariq Ramadan is a hotty. I'll marry him so that he can get his green card and spread the liberal Muslim word...then we will make little hot muslim babies." Ladies, he's married and has four kids. So not only is he smart and sexy, he's that rarest of breeds - a man who can commit. Don't give up hope, however. Muhammad had many wives, so all Tariq needs is to be given the attractive options.As his exclusive agent, the LHG is in charge of the selection process. Send your pictures to lazurdadeldiego@gmail.com - they'll be evaluated by our staff and those selected will be forwarded to the man himself. First fifty submissions get signed copies of Western Muslims and the Future of Islam.Good luck, ladies. Mcdreamy awaits....
somos los piratasExile is the second key story line in Western religion that shapes violent images of God. Notice that the Exodus story is a story about God's liberating violence. But what if instead of defeating your enemies you are always getting your ass kicked? What if instead of living in the Promised Land you are always living under foreign rule? How do you make sense of that? While Exodus is a story in which God uses superior violence to free an oppressed people; exile, on the other hand, is a story where God uses violence to punish the chosen people for their sins. If Exodus was a story of God's liberating violence; then the exile is a story of God's punishing violence. Obey God and prosper. Disobey God and suffer. This theme of exile is k...
yes, professors can be sexyTariq Ramadan is a Swiss Muslim and probably the most important scholar of Islam in the West. He argues for a modernist version of Islam (despite this fact the U.S. last year rescinded his visa thus keeping him from entering the country to deliver a keynote address at the American Academy of Religion and take a position as distinguished visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame).This interview is a good summary of his views....
Wishing he was an only child(Previously on the LHG)In 1979 a small group of Jewish women and children from Kiryat Arba crawled through the window of an abandoned hospital in Hebron, occupying it illegally and establishing a a Jewish settlement on the site, Beit Hadassah. In time the settlement grew to more than fifty families with some 450 Jews sequestered in what amounted to an armed fortress in a city of more than 100,000 Muslims. The land is sacred, it is Jewish sacred land, and the Jews must take what is theirs by divine right. A Jewish text records the debate of sages 1800 years ago on why Cain murdered Abel. By naming what drove Cain to kill, each sage meant to identify the source of human violence. According to one, a twin si...
